October 2006 - Posts
Once in awhile Michael really amazes me! I wish I understood all that is going on with him! I really wish I could know what he's thinking.
I imagine every parent of a teenager would say the same thing.
I wish he could talk to me. Hehe, I guess a lot of parents of teens would say that too.
Today I went to meet his teacher, I got to meet a couple of the therapists too. They were doing some evaluations, trying to see what he's capable of and trying to begin a plan for helping him. As part of the evaluation, his teacher gave him a piece of paper with 5 sentences on it. These had normal size print, I would guess 11pt font. She asked him to check the sentences that were true. He took quite awhile, but he checked one, then took a little longer and he checked another. Both were accurate!! This is awesome, amazing. It shows that he can see, he can read, he can process what he sees and reads. There are times when this seems clear to be true and times when we wonder if he can do either.
While we were watching him and waiting, there was talk about why he wasn't selecting anything and it was suggested that we be patient and just give him more time, not throw 4 or 5 questions at him at once. You know, I've heard this again and again, but I and everyone else that works with him forget this simple principle. You see, sometimes you can fire question after question at him and he responds quickly and accurately. So when he doesn't do that we look for other things than processing time. We look at the position of his arm, can he reach with the pencil he's using to respond or the button, we wonder if his vision is less that perfect, sometimes we even think he just can't process or can't read. He needs a new shirt that says something like
Give me a minute and I'll get back with you!
So, today was pretty exciting, it is nice to have loving, caring capable people working with him. I hope he is taking in how many people there are that care about him. And, I'm sure he is.
Thanks for your prayers and your care!
(Psalms 27:14) Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD.
Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD.
Michael has had someone from school working with him for a couple weeks now and we are seeing a difference. His teacher has him moving both hands together, he holds on to his left hand with his right and he moves them both back and forth. This is really interesting, he is able to do more with his left hand. He also continues to make strides with his head and neck, he's moving it from side to side more and holding it up completely more. The other thing she has him doing is getting sound and air through his mouth. I noticed that he was putting his fingers to his lips a lot. My reaction was to discourage this, but then found that he is trying to show me what he's learned. Leesa has him put his hand to his lips so he can feel air and feel his lips move. Good stuff! Little pieces of progress, more progress.
Michael is smiling a lot. He gets tired of hearing about his bowel movements and other bodily functions, I'm sure he's more tired of hearing everyone discuss them all the time. I think sometimes we are down and sad, thinking about how he's not the same, but Michael seems to be in good spirits, doing just fine. He's not settling by any means, he is working hard, but he's not down and depressed. He is making efforts to communicate this to us, it's like he's saying. "I'm fine Dad, I can do this".
This is a challenge for me, for sure!!! I do want to be here, encouraging him, I do want to live where we are now, not be stuck in what we had in the past, but it is difficult. I miss Michael, I don't like that he's stuck here seperated from the world, the friends he knew. I ask for your prayers that I would be support for him and never transfer my sadness to him. God promises to direct me, I ask for that especially. We all appreciate your prayers!! Michael and I talk about that. He always confirms his appreciation for prayer as well he confirms that he is praying for others - this brings a smile to his face.
Michael and I used to go through the drive-thru and have 'dinner' finished before we got home. He liked to throw the paper that he tore off his straw into the paper bag full of french fries, I would reach in grab a hand full of nice salty fries, stuff them in my mouth along with his straw paper. He just snickered, but he would make sure and do it again the next time.
Michael keeps working hard. He's working on his left arm and voicing mostly.
On Wednesday we took him to the last swim meet at Lee's Summit High School. He was really anxious and excited about going, It was good for him. I always leave those kinds of things wishing that more kids would talk to him but he said it was fun, he smiled a lot. I know he really liked seeing coach Holder again.
Happy Birthday to my brother Buddy!
Michael is in his second week of school, I see and hear good things!
He’s still moving his head better, he gets better and better with it. Mrs. Coulter has him exercising his jaw, making sounds, blowing through a straw and a whistle. He’s getting up in the standing frame. Lots of stimulation!
I did find out that he has another urinary tract infection or maybe he just never got rid of it, but now we have a very thorough doctor working with us.
Psalm 31:22 In panic I cried out, “I am cut off from the Lord!” But you heard my cry for mercy and answered my call for help.
There are a lot of times that we forget how far we've come, I guess there are even times when we wonder how far we can go. Michael continues to do little things that he hasn't done before but then again he's not ready to get up or to play Halo again. He's not told me "I love you Dad" but he has come a long way in the last year. God has brought us a long way. Just as a reminder of this I've pasted the post from a year ago tomorrow. I remember the morning very well, I was easily excited about much less than today. I believe, as I did then that God isn't finished with Michael, that he has something for him, I'm trusting him for that. I believe he'll be able to say thank you instead of me some day.
Thanks for your care and support, thanks for your love.
Here's the post from last year.
Tuesday, October 04, 2005
| Late last night Michael was moved from ICU, this is good, it's good that he's progressing but it is also very scary. He received very good care there, the nurses were wonderful, they were able to pay very close attention to him, I know we can't expect the same thing in a regular room that he got in the ICU, everyone is new to us and to him and they just can't pay as much attention to him. Last night when I left he was very comfortable, all rates, temperature were very good. When I got there this morning, it wasn't the same. Everything was way up, his temp, heart and respiration rates, blood pressure, everything. I held his hand and started trying to comfort him. It became very obvious that Michael was immediately responding to my voice and even more to holding his hand, every time I let go all his rates went up. My sister came in just as Don from GBT came in. I talked to Don and my sister sat down and started talking to Michael... this is the really good part!!!! When she talked to him, his heart rate went from the 150s to 108, his respirations went from 50+ to 22 and lower. Every time she stopped talking to him everything went up. There is no doubt he was responding to the sound of her voice. Wow! This is the first, no question about it, response he's given us, we have thought he might be or must be responding but he left no doubt this morning. God left me no doubt this morning. I thank him and praise him. Our God is an awesome God! Michael has had it easier the last 4 days, now he has some fighting to do, and he is. Pray that God continues to bring Michael along in every way. Sally I thank you for being a Godsend this morning, as always you're there when I need you! |